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Global data released about immunization coverage

Data released about immunization coverage | Courtesy of biology.usf.edu

The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund recently released a joint publication that provides updated data about immunization coverage.

According to the data, 123 countries vaccinated children with all three doses of the Diphtheria – Tetanus – Pertussis vaccines (DTP3) in 2013. In 2014, this number rose to 129 countries.

There were six countries with less than a 50 percent coverage of DTP3: Chad, Central African Republic, Somalia, Equatorial Guinea, Syria and South Sudan. Worldwide coverage of DTP3 now stands at 86 percent, which includes all three of the doses. Approximately 91 percent of the infants received one dose of the vaccine but not all three.

In 2000, 21 million children did not receive the first DTP dose. In 2014, this number dropped to 12 million.

India traditionally has the most children who have not received vaccinations. Now, India reports that it has 80 percent coverage of DTP3 in its regions. Experts attribute this significant increase to a revitalized national immunization program, which was stirred forward by the successful elimination of polio.

In 2014, the number of children with all three Heptatis B vaccine doses stood at 30 percent. In 2014, this number rose to 82 percent.